Archive for January, 2006

Diddy claims 2006 will be the year Bad Boy comes back strong. "I’m in the studio right now, making my album," he said. "I’m in the studio with Pharrell, with Kanye, with Timbaland, Jay-Z, Nas." – via MTV

I know the Eye Candy category often goes neglected for weeks at a time, but what can I tell you, I have high standards. In any event, Angel La over at Concrete Loop has some goodness that should hold you over.

Diplomat Records CEO Cam’ron will hold a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 25 to discuss the current feud his record aimed at Def Jam president Jay-Z, his new album and upcoming movie.

Right. Like I said in some comments over at Will’s site, Cam must think we’re real dense if he thinks we don’t realize a publicity stunt when we see one. I don’t doubt that his beef with Jay is authentic, but this whole stunt is so transparent. He claims that the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, was the I Declare War concert and the revelation that it was him and the Dips that Hov was planning to air out. To which I say: negro please. So Cam, you’re telling us that you knew about Jay’s plans since October but yet you waited until January, a month before your album release date to set it off? Come on Killa, we know you better than that.

On another note, I was over at Cam’s publicist’s website checking out his press kit. Get a load of the first two paragraphs of his bio.

Typically thought of as a machismo-dominated culture, in 2004 hip-hop took an improbable turn when fans began to don a seemingly unmanly pink. The trend – which quickly crossed over from the urban community and into the mainstream – can be traced to a single source: platinum-selling street-favorite rapper and business mogul: Cam’ron.

To set himself apart from other rappers, Cam’ron donned nothing but pink to promote his 1.2 million-selling 2002 album Come Home With Me, even going so far as to purchase a custom bubble-gum pink Range Rover. Fans all over the world took note. The seed was planted, a trend born, but like a true leader, Cam’ron quickly moved on. After all, by that point, he had an empire to run.

There’s been alot of buzz around the internet over this mixtape lately so I figured I’d up it. Now, this isn’t the best copy because the mp3′s aren’t tagged and the quality isn’t the best (although it’s definitely listenable). Of course your boy will up a better copy when he finds one. From what I’ve heard so far, it sounds pretty hot.

1. If you had never heard that compilation before, you need to step your rap game up for real, it’s been out for at least a year and a half. If you think that is something Cam thought up himself, then you need to turn in your hip hop membership card immediately.

2. If you listened to the Writer/Biter track and were at all surprised that those lines were not Jay’s original material, then you seriously need to step your rap game up. I can’t front, there were maybe 2 quotes that I wasn’t aware were "stolen" but other than that, most of those lines are from well known, if not classic, songs.

Exceptions: If you were born anytime after oh let’s say…1987, I’m willing to overlook your flagrant lack of hip hop knowledge because you were probably still playing with G.I. Joe/Barbie when most of those songs were in rotation.

"The 1st nigga to scream G-Unot to me, I’mma stomp your ass out with the Goretex Beef and Broccolis."

It’s a shame that these guys have fallen under 50′s influence. They have absolutely nothing to do with the Game/50 beef and they’re certainly not gonna prove anything by dissing him. Unlike Ballerina P and Hav, I’m willing to look past their G-Unit affiliation if they drop a dope album, but I’m not feeling these arbitrary disses.

See now, putting a picture of Cam holding a gun next to an article about him and Jay’s beef is just uncalled for. Not that I think this publicity stunt has the potential to spill over into real life, but come on, that’s just weak. Anyway, at the end of the piece there’s an alleged quote from a "pal" of Jay:

"This is a one-sided feud," the pal tells us. "Cam’ron may hope there’ll be retaliation. But he’s a gnat. Jay doesn’t have any issues with him."

There’s also the following quote from an unnamed Def Jam rep: "Obviously, Cam’ron must have an album coming out soon." On the one hand I feel like it would hurt Cam’s feelings more if Jay didn’t say anything, but the hood in me says, he went at wifey Hov, you need to handle ya business.